 The mists of time....
|
2,171 views
|
|
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #52
Quote: if we fired just a couple of small pieces of the floating one, the ducks would spend half an hour struggling to clear their bills,
Yeah, it was really "taccy" if I remember right......confirming my theory that it was mostly wheatgerm😉
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #50
My friends and I caught loads on both the floating and sinking versions of Red Slime. Well when we could afford to buy a bag between us.
We also twigged that if we fired just a couple of small pieces of the floating one, the ducks would spend half an hour struggling to clear their bills, leaving us to fish floating crust in peace.😎
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #50
if I remember correctly the black slime was supposed to be a killer roach bait.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #49
Probably had some other ingredients but just smelled of neat wheatgerm...and was about as effective, ie; not very
Oh, the tench quite liked it, I recall
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #48
led to believe they contained (some) sodium caesinate ??
Bit later on 86-87-ish I delivered some office furniture to DKs unit and picked up a few bottles of Red Karpi before it hit the shelves.
Come to think of it, Mistral old factory was only 150 yds from where I worked, could stand outside the chippy in the next street and get some powerful wafts of Whiskey, Rosehip or Crab & Crawfish.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #47
Duncan Kays Slyme baits were just wheatgerm with a bit of colouring I think....I didn't rate it much....or catch any on it.
When I started using hair rigs it was 1.5lb mono tied direct to the bend of the hook and bait put on with a sewing needle "borrowed" from my mums sewing kit..bait was two peanuts....had to tie a new hair every time as the peanut was tied on, no loop/bait stop or anything like that...
.....oh, and you had to wind in super slow or the nuts would spin like a propeller and kink your 6lb Maxima hooklink 🙁
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #13
I was making homemades using white fishmeal from the pet shop semolina and a pink Sensas coconut groundbait, caught a few 5-6 pound commons from my local club water ( Ditchford).
The local shop had Catchum Atlantic Prawn and Duncan Kays baits which weren't in the pocket money budget
Hairs tied on the bend of the hook..hadn't learnt about the knotless knot.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #45
No worries mate, really glad, you'll love it, some great stuff in there 😎👍
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #44
Nice one 👍
That's my reading material for a while 😀
Thanks for the heads up
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #37
I do remember a dead body in sharks pool story😱
Never met the one arm guy. I remember a guy called Chubby...... and Steve who drove a Reliant three wheeler.
I used to chase the carp with floaters on Marhamchurch but they were super spooky.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #39
+1, T4000 or whatever it was called. I had a shiny poled version snap while I was in front of it talking to the lake owner, was like a bloody shot gun going off. It snapped as the sun dried out the fabric after 2 days of rain 😢 It suffered from shrinking fabric, never got to the bottom of it, made the poles extremely difficult to get in and out.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #40
And the Brolly - photo from 2005 or before as I moved out that year
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #39
My Fox Evo has a sort of metallic green colour to the poles.
I have all 3 versions in my collection.
For completeness I also bought the Fox Evo Compact when that came out, half the length due to the fold. Awful photo of it up, I was obviously in a rush just to get a shot of it for ownership/insurance purposes
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #33
Quote: aero aluminium poles
Mine is one of the original Fox evo bivvies, so it has the best aero aluminium poles.
They weather to a dull silver colour.
The later brittle poles were shiny aluminium and proper *****.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #29
I still have my original Fox Evolution bivvy. It was a sulky consolation purchase from The Tackle Box (old store) whilst driving home from Linear's Manor Farm after a 2 day blank. I usually find a purchase cheers me up.
I believe mine is one of the original originals, the skirt around the bottom is made of the same material as the bivvy skin.
When my mates copied me and bought Evos, theirs all had the thick groundsheet material as the skirt which was an ass to fold/roll up and would eventually crack.
I then decided to get the brolly version, which I bought off of someone on here and since then I've had 2 mates give me theirs when they no longer wanted them. Bleeps gave me a Fox Evo which i still use most weeks for my river carping and another mate gave me theirs which I've got in case i need to sacrifice one to use as spares for the others.
The bought the overwrap for the original Fox bivvy (3/4 coverage) and the brolly came with the full coverage overwrap.
Also got those padded mats which I still use to this day although usually as padding between bedchairs on long trips (to save metal on metal 'scarring')
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #36
Awesome pics mate...
I had a lovely tench and a big hit of roach at Sharks Pool...its also where the infamous body in the reeds happened...
Did you ever meet Paul Braund ,fantastic pole angler ?,only had one arm seeing him hook maggots single armed is amazing to see,
My fave spot was over at Zuma Jay surfboards workshop...and stock pond at Marhamchurch for small rudd roach and carp...
I still keep in contact with the original Tamer bailiff, Tony Hicks from Hatherleigh..
The swim you have the fish pics in is or was the beach ,its where I first saw a Aqua dome !!
And as you rightly say it's all over grown now..
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #35
I used to get tackle from a shop just off the Quay in Bideford...can't remember the guys name though.
Bait was from Hutchinson and Kemp..mail order
A couple of captures from the time--
Bude Canal Sharks pool about '84
Lower Tamar dam wall behind '84
Tamar again..this swim is all trees now I think!
looking the part, Bude canal '84 or there abouts
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #34
Yep,fished the country club too,used to get in through the forest at Yagland ,now of course it's all changed...
Bet you used to go Nick Laws @ Summerlands all gone now tho...used to get my Asafoetida from him . ..
Lots of small pools still abound, nice n quiet,no big fish .....and mostly no humans ,which is good 👍
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #27
Big county ,small population ,,even smaller angling for carp individuals was paradise literally ..
I moved down from Surrey to North Devon for a job in 1982...first year on Tamar I never saw another carp angler...a few appeared the following year when night fishing was allowed if you sought permission from Ken Spalding, head ranger.
I fished Bude canal a lot as well as, Darracott res, Clovelly Country club, Slade and jennets when it opened in '85 I think. But you're right, waters were NEVER busy and nights I'd often have the place to myself...bliss!
and no close season unlike rest of the country at the time.
I also attended a CAA meeting about this time at Zygs place when he only had the one lake...about a dozen members had the day fishing his lake and the evening watching Peter Mohan's Ashley videos and the like.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #28
I had a very early Evo brolly which had the aero aluminium poles which were really flexible, as with all things later ones had inferior poles & had the short front ones split more than once.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #31
Amazing summer bivvy and an Armadillo for the winter. 👍
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #29
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #28
I had one as well,was a good shelter...(used mine to work on my bike once also)
|
|
|
|
I contacted Chris,and wrote to him several times,I even had hand drawn, and a photograph of his latest shelter,which was called evolution, was bought or brought out by Fox..
That was, and still would be if available, the best lightweight shelter I've ever owned, used it for everything, just as happy sitting on my match box under it, as I was Carp fishing, so flexible on height, so light 😎
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #25
I used to fish lower Tamar a lot,I'd even cycle from my villiage ,Boscastle to sit and watch the bream guys on the rocks of the Dam ,they had big bream matches on it a long time ago ,Mr England was bailiff..
I never drank lower water,but have filtered uppers water,with a Sawyer mini filter..
A lot of people don't know that lower was dug out as a ressi for the surrounding villages, and for Bude Canal,which is connected by the aqua drains ,bude canal once went near as lanson ,over 32 miles long..!
I saw an early prototype of the Aqua / Manifold
dome ,on the beach,at lower ,which is now over grown ,I contacted Chris,and wrote to him several times,I even had hand drawn, and a photograph of his latest shelter,which was called evolution, was bought or brought out by Fox..
I kept in contact with Chris ,and have some of his fish ,as he moved here and started Lana ..
Exciting times,remember not many of us here doing carping ,a few in Clay country and of course Nick Smith who I met many yrs ago and remain friends with...
Nicks just brought out his book ..
Big county ,small population ,,even smaller angling for carp individuals was paradise literally ...now its not 🙏
|
|
|
|
One thing that I have just recalled that was years ahead of its time, "Efgeeco Bait Bombs", they came out in the 60's.
They were just a dried out barrel shaped lump of groundbait, with a hole through them to put your line through, then there was a domed area cutout which is were your bait and hook went, and then you just cast them out and the ball of groundbait would dissolve, you could fish a very small bait a long way out. I always had a couple of packs of 6 in my bag.
I think Jim Gibbinson mentions them in his book "CARP" as a means to fish long distances without using leads when you was "Freelineing".
Basically, it was a predessesor years ahead of the "Method Feeder", "Stick Mixes" and "Bags" etc.
I have always thought of making my own, but never have.
In fact, I have just googled them and they have "Collectors Status" and I am shocked to see that those green Efgeeco bait boxes sell for up to £32, if I recall, they were only a few "shillings" and probably last about half a dozen trips fishing before they broke!!!
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #24
According to the advert it weighed 12lb to 13lb...a barrow would have been nice but I could carry everything for 24 hrs in one go. I cut down on weight considerably by not carrying water.....it astounds me to think of it now but, I was fishing Lower Tamar Reservoir (Devon) at this time and my rationale was that reservoir water was safe to drink if I boiled it! I'd wade out a little bit to avoid too much mud, if I could be bothered, whack it on the Trangia and it was good to go. I never got sick so I guess my theory held water (pun intended!) 😎
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #23
It weighed a tonne compared to the Argos camp beds - built like a brick ****house.
Much better than the Argos ones though - you were higher off the ground and the adjustable legs dealt with sloping banks.
Pity I didn't have the next great fishing innovation 10 years early to help me carry it - a bloody barrow !
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #19
I had a Maddocks adjusta level...it was a god send on sloped and uneven banks and the cover was never going to rip....I don't recall it being that heavy either...but I traded it in for a lafuma after a few years..much more comfy
|
|
|
|
Ah, the Bi tech Viper...
also referred to as the "BITCH" Viper
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #20
My earlier efforts were ok but did they wobble about a fair bit.
It was only when I saw the John Bryhn spods at Horseshoe did I realise I could hot melt glue some tail fins on and they were great.
The full size mastic tube wasn't a long range option but it could drop a fair bit of bait at up to 70 yards.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #3
The delight in making a spod that flew out straight and true with no wobble or skew off course aerodynamics and wasted spod trail bait/particle nowhere near where you wanted it 😂
Newer anglers have no idea how much bait delivery has come on since Rick Gibbinson and Co. made them.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #17
I had a set of Fox swingers the MK1 versions ,when they had the peg on the side of the indicator head,which didn't work well,after that ,Fox did the black rubber tension gromit,and two balls to adjust the tension on the swinger head ...
I gave mine to a lad in my villiage years ago ,I seen his son using my old swingers recently, makes one feel ancient ...
I really wanted an adjusta level bedchair,but couldn't afford one,although 'jimbo'who was an early local carper,had one on Rettalick lake,which was part of his family ,the same family who own the Spooky pool,huge connection / family tie...
After I used Herons ,I got some Bill Thurston Bi Tech vipers ,I did like them ,but a lot of people didn't, had mk1s,2s and multi coloured legs,and alloy adjustable ball joints...mk3s .
Someone mentioned 'aptheosis'closer to god is the general meaning ...Two mates had em ,one had alloy poles,the other had fibreglass poles ,the alloy pole version in rip stop nylon,was the posh one and an absolute cu next fursday to set up,..
|
|
|
|
You're not wrong re Fox at that time. Nearly everything inside and including my tackle box was Fox, bivvy, bedchair & chair too.
Sad thing is though I'm still using the tackle box very little in it is from Fox. There's a few survivors, yellow latch close baiting needle (superb needle that) 2 corers (the black plastic & brass ones)....and a newer tube threader, but that's it!
I fell out with Fox terminal tackle when they started using odd size swivels so their stuff wasn't compatible with other brands, that and the quality of the hook eye closures after the S Series.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #1
I'm "only" 38, but compared to anyone in their 20's I got to see aspects of the 'ancient times' of carp fishing, whereby those who couldn't afford a Maddocks or an Apothesis still made do with floral ratchets and Wavelocks with scruffy bob wraps.
Bobbin Spools and needles, 2nd hand Gardner Pods, floppy ledger rods, Shakespeare Bite Alarms.... the rigs hadn't really changed though in the 90's.
I don't think Fox get credited enough with what they brought to the market in the mid to late 90's. I dreamed as a kid of having a set of traffic light orange label Microns.
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #15
He told me his pb was 36lb ,when I met him
If anyone is interested in old skool stuff and want to read more about Gerry Savage and his mate Chris Bannister,it can be found on the River reads website,under the heading The Cornish years,although those that live and fish here would take it with a pinch of salt,there is a truth in some of it....
👍
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #14
I saved up for a tub of Hi-Pro...there was a pic of Gerry Savage with a 24lb mirror on the front which I gazed at endlessly...24lb was MASSIVE then😀
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #1
Phillips Hi Pro = Gerry Savage ,adverts smashed all over the angling times or mail ,100 doubles a yr from Kent waters ..
Churners,was doing that using my pair of 300 Mitchell's, had the Herons ,which I had converted to a deep low tone,by one of the original engineers at Dairy crest Davidstow met him up the Napoleon inn for a pint and a thank you..!
Met Gerry when he moved here he passed on the double bead anti tangle running lead to me and the Kent philosophy of Location ,presentation and bait ,in that order ....I have his LP..B...on my landing net
Nashy 45 inch sewn on storm sides ,waterproofed with Meso Wax ...I was a rebel a carper ,no one was doing it round here then I heard about the clay country lakes ,and more !!
Then I found the others....😂
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #12
I was using in line zipps for most of the 80's, also with tubing but it was clear silicone and thick as anything.....
..... at least we had boilies (Geoff Kemp protein mix with Golden syrup flavouring) and hair rigs by then
.....and Bamford converted Optonics😀
|
|
|
|
|
probably a bit later when I started carp fishing in the early 80s, I remember using in-line Zipp leads with rigid tubing, pretty sure I still have one in my lead bucket.,
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #10
“Roll the ball in dog sh*t and get your friend to head it?” 😂
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #7
Jumpers for goal posts....hmm wasn't it 😂
Even humour was better in the 'mists of time' 👍
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #8
Interesting stuff, Zack,
particularly the flaked maize bait.
1970's bait for me was mainly Tudor Queen Luncheon meat, cut into chunks and held on for casting with a blade of grass or twig on the bend of the hook.
or kit-e-kat thickened with groundbait
or cheese paste flavoured with bovril
or sweetcorn if float fishing
Mostly I'd fish the arsley bomb straight on the line with a plastic leger stop or split shot pinched on the line..a link leger was a bit fancy for me early on but I did resort to using one in an attempt to combat twitchers..in hindsight I'd have done better keeping the bomb on the line and putting a backstop on and not burying the hook into the bait🙁 yer live and learn!
|
|
|
|
I still have my "45" nash nylon zig wrap", I looked at it about 3 years ago and was going to start using it again as its such a simple system and including the umbrella takes up little space, as it used leak like a sieve, I would have used "Fabsil Gold" on it or a 10% solution of clear silicon sealant and odour free white spirit.
Then I would have had to find a tennis ball to put on the umbrellas pole where it breaks to ease the pain of "Headbutting" it on a night.
I actually found my tacklebox from the 60's a while back, it was full of treasure, little short 3" lengths of line with 1/4 or 1/2 oz arsley bombs at one end and a split ring at the other to make running paternosters. If I fished with one of them, the ball of "KiteKat" paste would be far heavier and leave the lead behind when I cast out and p[robably land about 20' behind the bait......but I still caught.
I had loads of Sealy Octopus hooks all in size 2 and a lot of unknown brands as they was all loose, its the only size in those days that I used. I could get a big ball of paste on one or 60 maggots. I don't know why I used the Octopus hooks, worst hooks I have ever used in my life, you was always lucky to land a fish on them as invariably, they would snap, but they looked the part and had an agressive shape.
And one of the oddest thing back in those days, lack of information, no mobile phones, no internet etc, very few carp anglers to talk too or even see fishing, a lot of waters I would fish, looked very "carpy" and I would creep around looking for them and fish for them for days and months on end, and eventually find out......there is no carp in them. The only time you saw a carp, was if you was lucky to see one in a pond etc, catch one or see one in the angling papers or a book and where it was caught!!!!
One of my best baits was a mixture of Flaked Maize, some sugar, water and plain flour as a binder, I would have about a 3 hour span after mixing it before it started to go off, it would ferment like hell and "dome" the bait bucket lid as the gasses built up, leave it to long and it blew the lid off if there was no holes in it. By next morning it would be just a sticky mushy mess and unuseable.
Another of my best baits was bread paste made with Heinz salad cream, carp loved that.
I used to use "Spillers Shapes" as well on the hook, used them for a long time before I decided, "I don't think carp like them" so I stopped using them, but oddly enough, I could catch on them when I ground them up and made a paste out of them?
I used to do the " two cover trick" as well on my Woolworths Sun Lounger, not only did it hide the "Girly Flowery" cover by using a plin coloured cover over the top, but I could get a layer of foam between them.
I used to also survive 2 to 3 days at a time just eating "Orchard fruit pies" for breakfast, dinner and tea and a load of cans of Inde Coupe "Long Life" to drink
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stripping the copper out of cable to use the outer as anti tangle tubing. Fishing for churners on my 300s. Au lion dior that's a proper blast from the past 1534s about as sharp as s piece of toast lol
|
|
|
|
In reply to Post #4
Wow, a 20 in 1975 was a properly big fish….I think I’d only had a handful over 10lb by that time.
I recall the two cover trick for the bed chair for added strength…I must have got through countless covers and always dreaded going to buy a replacement and the shop only having the orange flowery ones left…my first choice was blue and, at a push the red one but I drew the line at the orange and brown flowery one and would have to arrange that as the inside cover and put an old blue one over it.
When I first started I was always fishing open bail and silver paper, for a “run” but progressed on to bottle tops and fishing for churners, particularly as most reels, even Mitchells were reluctant to close the bail arm when you needed them to. In retrospect a churner was a fish that had already hooked itself from the resistance of the reel and a strike was not needed.
I had herons for a number of years and had tinkered with the contacts, changed the sounder box to something a bit less squawky, wired an LED into the heads, hacksawed a bit off the top to change the shape slightly and painted them matt black (obvs!) I also changed the cables to those curly electric guitar to amp leads (don’t ask me why!)
|
|
|
|
|
I caught my first 20 in 1975, 10ft fibreglass rods, herons, au lion d'or, hooks, partridge hooks, washing up liquid bottle tops for hangers, home made line clips, fishing for churners with mitchell 410s, 8lb maxima line, and hooklink. I also had a 45inch brolly with Nash canvas over wrap, argos sunlouger with two covers on. Bait was 11 grains of sweetcorn on a hand sharpened partridge size 2 hook, pre hair so on the hook. It's a lot easier nowadays.
|
|
|
|
Nice one Baitman,
is that a canvas bivvy? I had a canvas Send Brolly camp...toastie warm in the winter but if it got wet you needed a fork lift to get it back to the car (Wolesley 1500 with a roof rack and before that, getting picked up by my dad in his Mk1 Triumph 2000....."don't get bl**dy mud on the seats!")
I think Black spider would still have a use today...boom section or some such
LOVING the home made quality of the bait droppers..... a lot more home made tackle going on back then..which I miss, in a way.
Thanks for the glimpse of the past..fantastic👏
|
|
|
|
45" nash nylon zig wrap, no taped seams so covered in linseed oil to waterproof, chucked over a 45" nubrolli.
Argos sun lounger squeezed in.
Deluxe hooklength material, but now lives in the sewing kit.
Home made spods from mastic tubes.
|
|
|
|
Ancient Terminology
Just a bit of a follow on from the post started last week…Fishing isn’t what it used to be…had me thinking about my earliest memories… I would be super-interested to know how many people would have any idea what I was talking about from the following;
Cloopers
Herons
Twitcher hitting
Arlsey bombs
Parallel bars
Solder blobbed low water salmons
Au lion D’ors
Phillips Hi-pro
Silver paper hissing in the butt ring
I am sure I’ve missed a load, too 🙁
|
|
